BATON ROUGE -- The thought of the botched play made Terrence Toliver's face crinkle up as he shook his head.

John Raoux/The Associated PressLSU wide receiver Terrence Toliver catches a 3-yard pass in front of Florida's Jeremy Brown for the winning touchdown in the fourth quarter of the Tigers' 33-29 victory Saturday.

Toliver, LSU's speedy, physical wide receiver with hands the size of small baseball gloves, watched a pass from quarterback Jordan Jefferson slip through his mitts into the hands of West Virginia defensive back Keith Tandy, killing a golden scoring opportunity for LSU three weeks ago. The same thing happened against Penn State in last season's Capital One Bowl

Toliver grabbed six passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns in a breakout performance. His handprints were all over the victory as he scored the winning touchdown on a 3-yard reception with six seconds left after setting it up with a 28-yard catch and run. He also had a 38-yard touchdown catch complete with an excellent spin move to give him a team-leading 20 catches for 259 yards and two touchdowns this season.

Toliver said the outburst emanates from the botched pass against West Virginia.

"I felt real bad about that one," he said. "It was a pretty good pass. I saw it and it went straight through my hands. I won't let that happen again. I said that to myself, 'This is not me, I don't make plays like that. I catch the ball and make plays.' The same thing happened against Penn State last year.

"I used it as motivation. I'm a senior, a leader of this group. If these guys see me drop a ball, it won't look good for us. I took it really serious."

As well he should. Not only is Toliver immensely talented with a 6-foot-5, 203-pound frame, but he's the only receiver LSU has with a full season as a starter. If he's not making plays, who will? He asserted himself against Florida when alerted that he was getting ready to see a lot of man-to-man coverage from the Gators, who went into the game leading the nation in interceptions with 12.

"We challenged Terrence and the other receivers that they were going to see a lot of man coverage," LSU offensive coordinator Gary Crowton said. "Terrence is a really good kid and he did a real good job of working at it in practice last week.

"Terrence is very strong and fast. He really took advantage of the matchups."

Toliver had a distinct physical advantage against Florida cornerbacks Janoris Jenkins and Jeremy Brown, both 5-10 and 184 pounds. Twice, Toliver carried Jenkins on his back for at least 10 yards. When LSU got to the 3-yard line with 15 seconds left and a chance to win the game, the Tigers went to Toliver twice on fade patterns against Brown. The first was incomplete and the second won the game.

Brown clearly interfered with Toliver on the incompletion prior to the touchdown play. On the second, Toliver had to make a difficult catch, secure the ball and get one foot down in bounds. The play survived the scrutiny of the replay official.

"I was happy (when the same play was called), that they had the faith to call the play again," Toliver said. "You got to have a beastly type mentality, 'Can't nobody stop me'. That's how you've got to be to get the ball a majority of the time. That's the way I felt."

Earlier this season, Toliver felt some frustration. Jefferson was struggling at quarterback and, subsequently, the LSU passing game was struggling. Toliver had only nine receptions for 82 yards and no touchdowns through the first three games. The week before the West Virginia game he was quoted in the LSU student paper The Daily Reveille as saying his career at LSU wasn't turning out as he expected, which earned him a chat with Coach Les Miles.

Toliver said he was misunderstood and that he wasn't frustrated.

"It crossed my mind but I wouldn't say frustrated," he said. "I wasn't getting the ball but it doesn't matter. I'm a team player. I'm good where I'm at."

Two people happy that Toliver is a Tiger are Jefferson and Jarrett Lee, who are sharing the quarterback duties and need Toliver to make the system work. Lee said he and Toliver have developed a chemistry that isn't hurt by the fact they are both Texans, Lee from Brenham and Toliver from Hempstead, which is 20 miles away.

"He's just a great playmaker," Lee said. "He's 6-5 and has great ball skills. We knew we had to get him the ball."